IISL launches 72 fixed income and 3 hybrid indices

Aligning with the latest Sebi norms on consolidation of mutual fund schemes, NSE's index services arm IISL today launched 72 indices to track all segments of fixed income markets including government securities, T-bills, corporate bonds of different credit rating categories and commercial papers.
India Index Services & Products Ltd (IISL) has also launched three hybrid indices, Nifty50 Hybrid Composite Debt 70:30 Index, Nifty50 Hybrid Composite Debt 50:50 Index and Nifty50 Hybrid Composite Debt 15:85 Index.
The 75 indices come in the wake of Sebi's norms on consolidation and merger of mutual fund schemes.
The indices, which are expected to act as benchmarks for asset managers, would help to accurately measure and efficiently manage risks and returns in fixed income investments.

The indices are seen as reference indices to be tracked by passive funds in the form of ETFs, index funds and structured products.
Speaking to PTI, NSE managing director and CEO Vikram Limaye said that the launch of these indices is significant as it has come out at a time when Sebi has issued regulations for consolidation of mutual fund schemes into certain categories.

"So the mutual funds are in process of consolidating their schemes. We have designed our indices the way that mutual funds will be able to benchmark the new consolidated schemes they have to our indices, so that there is no mismatch," Limaye said.

"Secondly, for development of bond markets in general this is an important step. There isn't any other set of indices which is so broad across different types of instruments, issuers and ratings," he added.
Addressing the launch event at NSE, Limaye said he is confident that the new debt indices on the exchange will help in growth of debt ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and that the bourse is engaged with the government to launch this product.
"The announcement by the finance minister in the recent budget on launch bond ETFs is also a step in this direction. We are closely involved with the Ministry of finance on the issue. This is another product which is very useful for the public," Limaye said.

All new Nifty fixed income and hybrid indices are total return indices.